A vehicle radar apparatus and a method of controlling the vehicle radar apparatus, including a transmission array antenna that radiates a radar signal for forward detection; a reception array antenna that operates at N (N is an integer greater than zero) reception channels for receiving the radar signal that is radiated by the transmission array antenna, reflects from a target, and returns; an azimuth angle estimation unit that estimates an azimuth angle of the target using each non-offset reception channel of the N reception channels; and an elevation angle estimation unit that estimates an elevation angle of the target in a diagonal direction in which each non-offset channel of the N reception channels is tilted with respect to an azimuth angle of an offset reception channel thereof.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
2. The vehicle radar apparatus of claim 1, wherein the angle calculation module calculates the tilted angle using a separation interval in the vertical direction and an interval in a horizontal direction between the each non-offset reception channel and the offset reception channel.
3. The vehicle radar apparatus of claim 1, wherein the position calculation module calculates the positional value on the each axis using the tilted angle calculated by the angle calculation module, the interval between the reception channels in the diagonal direction, which is calculated by the interval calculation module, and the phase difference between the offset reception channel and the each non-offset reception channel.
4. The vehicle radar apparatus of claim 1, wherein the elevation angle calculation module calculates the average of the elevation angles by assigning a weighting factor that increases as the non-offset reception channel gets closer to the offset reception channel.
5. The vehicle radar apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a signal generation unit configured to generate a frequency signal that is to be provided to the transmission array antenna.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the calculating of the angle comprises calculating the tilted angle using a separation interval in the vertical direction and an interval in a horizontal direction between the each non-offset reception channel and the offset reception channel.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein the calculating of the positional value on each axis in the diagonal direction comprises calculating the positional value on the each axis using the calculated tilted angle, the calculated interval between the reception channels in the diagonal direction, and the phase difference between the offset reception channel and the each non-offset reception channel.
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May 21, 2020
January 3, 2023
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